I graduated from Winona State University with a degree in education, but I never really did any teaching. Instead, after graduation I got into the construction industry. My family and I moved to Northfield 1978, and in 1980 I became assistant superintendent of buildings and grounds at Carleton College. I came to St. Olaf in 1988 and have been here ever since.

My job really is made up of two parts, which at a lot of other places are done by separate people. The first involves the maintenance of physical facilities. The other half is directing physical planning on campus, which includes the design and construction of new buildings.

This was a busy year. The Boe Memorial Chapel renewal project was a unique challenge. Even though we had designed the entire renovation of Boe, we planned to do just the chancel, organ, and worship platform in a first phase. Because of some issues with building codes, we decided to go ahead with all of the interior work. Ultimately, it turned out wonderfully. It's one of the greatest projects I've ever worked on at St. Olaf.

Even before we had planned to build the new Science Complex we hoped to build the ring road. We wanted to restore the flow of foot traffic in front of Old Main and get the automobiles out of the way. This makes St. Olaf a more pedestrian campus again. It also set up a great site on which to build the Science Complex, which really wouldn't have worked anywhere else.

Discussion of a wind turbine started a long time ago, and got serious as early as 2003. During the process the landscape of wind power became complicated because federal tax credits were renewed and depreciation rules changed. This caused costs to go up quickly because of increased demand. We stuck with it and today it's up and working well.

We have set up temporary facilities for those displaced by the construction of the Science Complex. More than 10,000 square feet was needed to accommodate the offices of academic support, the Center for Experiential Learning, TRiO and the education department, as well as the classrooms that were previously housed in Flaten Hall and the Old Main annex.

We're also still dealing with the damage from the hailstorm last September. We spent $600,000 of insurance money immediately following the storm, which included replacing the slate roof on Skifter Hall. There's still a lot of work to be done, though. This summer we plan to repair the damage to Mellby Hall, Boe Memorial Chapel and Thorson Hall. It will be two or three years before we're totally done.

In addition to continuing construction on the Science Complex and repairing hail damage, we'll be deciding how to utilize and renovate the space of the existing Science Center. That will involve a lot of people and programs shifting, but in the end it will be great for the campus. Just as Buntrock Commons made Dittmann Center possible by freeing up additional space, the new Science Center will make the old Science Building available to other departments. It will have a huge impact on the academic programs on campus.

Most challenges are unseen, dealing with the infrastructure of the buildings. They're not very glamorous. For example, this summer we're going to re-plumb several of the bathrooms in Mellby Hall and replace the vinyl tile in Thorson.

A bigger challenge is handling old, historic buildings while still meeting new codes. Many of these buildings look great, but they were constructed in an era when no one thought of energy costs. We have to bring them up to date without messing them up.

There have only been three other people in my job in the history of the college: John Berntsen, a legend who was in the position for 52 years; Vernon Tripp, who worked here for 25 years; and Norm Madson, who was here 17 years. They all did a phenomenal job, and I just want to keep that going.